A Friend
by Yet-Another-Weasley
Summary: A murder, attack, new patient, and Cameron goes ary. And through all of the excitment, House still finds time to waste playing video games and watch soap operas. Chapter 10 up now! Thanks for reviews guys!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** My second House fic and I hope you enjoy it. Please note that as usual I don't own House or its characters. Duh. Hahaha.. Thanks.. here's chapter one!

**Chapter One-**

The woman's name was Virginia Watson and she was still lying in her hospital bed, asleep. She was badly bruised and suffered a broken leg and minor concussion. Other than that, she seemed to be perfectly healthy, at least for right now anyway. Doctor Cameron sat in a corner of the room, writing in a notebook and occasionally peering out the window. Obviously she was upset and House could see that.

"Okay, spill, what's the matter?" He limped into the room.

"What? Nothing, I was just…"

"Oh would you stop! Don't you know me well enough to know when I'm being sarcastic, unless of course you were actually upset about something and in which that case I really meant the question." House replied.

"It's just really messed up how the patient was attacked and it's a week until Christmas."

"That's life. I mean, someone has to be sick for Christmas; it's not likely that everyone can be well and home with their families. That would be impossible."

Cameron agreed, but added, "Her husband just died, though. It must be like going through Hell for her."

House gave up, he could tell that he wasn't going to make her feel better and if he didn't change the subject soon they could be here for hours. "Okay, so it must be hard and all, but her injuries aren't bad. She'll be out of here in no time and then you can be happy. Anyway, we've got other people to cure, come on. Foreman told me to come and fetch you and bring you back to my office."

Sighing, she stood up and left the room with House. In a few minutes, they were up in House's office where Foreman and Chase were waiting.

"Good, you've captured the princess!" Chase said sarcastically.

Foreman raised an eyebrow, "Princess?"

"Yeah, Cameron, I wouldn't be too flattered… I heard Prince Charming over here likes to take advantage of pretty young woman, especially ones with blue eyes and brown hair."

Cameron looked away and Chase gave House the most evil look he could muster. Unfortunately, it made House want to laugh, but he stopped himself.

"Okay, so where were we?" Foreman broke the silence, "Yeah, that's right; a patient. If you would, please direct your attention to the white board and stop glaring at each other. Anyway, the patient is a thirty-two year old female Caucasian."

Chase seemed to start paying more attention after Foreman mentioned thirty-two year old female and House stifled a laugh.

"She's been suffering from migraines for over three years and now she's losing her vision at a rapid rate. Recently, her neighbor came over her house and found her collapsed on the stairs. For the past two days we've had her here she's been absolutely normal. Her blood test was normal and all the scans came back clean. Still, she's dying and we need to find out why. Cuddy figured House would be interested, so she handed the case over to us. Right now I'm going to have House and Cameron go get the patient's family history and have a look at it. I believe it's in a folder in the patient's room. Chase will…"

House cut him off, "I think Chase should go do something productive and out of the way, say clinic duty. I don't want him getting emotionally attached to the patient which you described as a young female."

Foreman smiled, "As much as I agree with you, I don't think Chase should have to do your clinic duty hours. Instead, Chase, you can go over the patient's blood tests and scans and see if we can learn anything from them."

Everyone was just about to head out the door when House stopped in his tracks, "Wait, what are you going to be doing, Doctor?"

"Oh, well, you know. I thought I'd sit up here in my office and play with my Gameboy or watch Soap Operas, doctor stuff," Foreman replied.

Cameron laughed, but stopped herself when House looked over at her.

"Geez, House, take a joke," Foreman laughed, "I'm kidding… Unlike you, I actually plan to do something around here, but that will be after I go and talk to Cuddy."

"What are you talking to Cuddy for?" House inquired, "Now that you've stolen my position you think you're going to be all buddy-buddy with her now, eh?"

"No, actually, I'm still keen to avoiding her, but she asked to see me in her office and I don't want to get into trouble."

House rolled his eyes and then started in the other direction. Cameron tagged along and Chase followed after her.

Once they were a little ways down the hall, Cameron spoke up, "Don't be so hard on him, House. He didn't ask for Cuddy to make him your boss; it just happened."

"Well can't it just un-happen?" asked House. "I've just about had it up to here with Cuddy." He gestured with cane and just about touched the ceiling with it signifying how annoyed with Cuddy he was.

Cameron shook her head, "Who cares? Foreman won't be you boss much longer and things will go back to the way they were. You'll be bossing around Chase, bossing around me, and generally ignoring Foreman, being best buddies with Wilson, and going around with your Gameboy avoiding Cuddy. Just get over it for the next few days and stop making a dig deal out of everything."

Frankly, House didn't know what to say. Cameron would get like this every once in a while and it put him in a state of awe. Still, he felt like he had accomplished something. Foreman was being sarcastic and Cameron was yelling at people; and to of all people, him! He felt good inside and took Cameron's advice to shut up and deal with his problems like a man.

They arrived at the patient's room and House and Cameron walked in. House took a seat in the chair next to the patient's bed and started looking at the papers in the folder. Cameron, however, turned around to leave. House caught her just as she was getting out the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" He inquired.

"If you haven't noticed, we have two patients. You can handle the patient's family history, so I'll go see to the other patient."

"And who gave you the authority to do this?"

Cameron just looked at him and after a few minutes responded, "If you haven't noticed, Foreman is in charge and well, he didn't exactly say that I couldn't get the other patient's test done and leave you here to do the family history."

"Whoa, I'm surprised. Well, run along little duckling, I hath taught thee well!" House said with much sarcasm.

Cameron rolled her eyes and left down the hallway, only to run into Cuddy and unfortunately knock a stack of papers out of her hands.

Cameron bent down and picked everything up, handing Cuddy a very messy pile of papers, "Oh God, I'm _so_ sorry…"

"It's fine, do you know where House is?" Cuddy asked.

"Uh, yeah, he's in room 217," replied Cameron.

"Thanks, oh, and can you go down to the clinic for me. I was supposed to meet Virginia Watson's friend. He's the only person we could find that knew her. Her parents were away and her husband is deceased. Just show him where the room is and I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay, sure."

So now Cameron's route was redirected to the clinic. She made her way down the hall and to the elevator where, also unfortunately, she ran into Chase, though not literally. She'd rather have to share an elevator with Stacey than Chase.

"Going up or down," he asked.

"Down."

He pressed the buttons and then backed up, leaning against the back wall of the elevator. After a few seconds, he spoke up.

"Wait, what are you doing going to the clinic anyway? You aren't doing House's clinic hours, are you?"

"No, I'm meeting someone down here for Cuddy." And with that, the elevator doors opened and she stepped out and headed towards the front desk.

She noticed a man about her age standing by the desk, reading a newspaper and occasionally looking around the room in search of something or someone. Cameron walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, are you here to see Virginia Watson?" she asked politely.

"Yes," He stuck out his hand, "I'm Matt. Are you Dr. Cuddy?"

She shook his hand and replied, "No, I'm Dr. Cameron. Dr. Cuddy sent me down to meet you and show you to Miss Watson's room. She's going to meet us there. You can just follow me; I'm going up to her room anyway."

"Oh, thank-you."

Cameron smiled and showed Matt up to Virginia's hospital room. They arrived and Cameron also introduced Matt to Cuddy.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you; my name is Cuddy and I'll be seeing that Virginia is well taken care of here. Right now probably isn't the best time for her to be having visitors as she's about to go have some tests done. It might be best if you come back sometime tomorrow afternoon and you can talk with Virginia. If you'd like, we can let Dr. Cameron do her job and I'll talk with you in my office."

"Sure, sounds great," Matt replied.

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**Author's Note:** Well, that's the end of Chapter 1, let me know what you think! )


	2. prologue

**Author:** Yet-Another-Weasley

**Title:** A Friend

**Description:** A young woman's attacker is still at large and he won't rest until he finishes what he tried to do, even if it means putting other people's lives on the line.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own House or its related characters.

**Author's Note:** Hey, this is my second House fanfic so I'm hoping it will be good. I hope you like it and please review and tell me what you think. Thanks!

I am such an idiot and I posted the first chapter before the prologue…. But you can still read this after you read chapter one because it just explains who Virginia is and what happened to her before she ended up at PPTH. So sorry.. haha.. like I said.. im an idiot! P

**Prologue:**

Up until a week ago, she had thought that she was in love. Everything wasn't perfect, but she had accepted that and so she was happy. Her and her boyfriend had been living together since the year after they had graduated from highschool. They were high school sweetheart and had dated since their freshman year. Everyone thought they were so cute together and they always got compliments. Together they were so happy, even if they didn't always get to see each other or spend every waking second in each other's arms.

She was an honor student and was always busy studying for the next test. As their junior year came to an end, it was time to start worry about college and scholarships and getting money. She got her license and spent time visiting various universities and schools. It was her dream to go to a great college and end up being married and eventually to have kids. Her boyfriend was also very intelligent, but he was also atheletic. The time that he wasn't out at competitions and games, his parents locked him in his room to make sure his grades were kept high. So, they didn't have much time to see each other and perhaps that made them even closer together. They didn't make out every day and didn't get obsessed and hang onto each other in-between classes. They were much more mature than that.

Both of them wanted to go to college together and let their relationship progress. Now it was two years after they went to high school and she was alone except for her son, Aiden. No, she hadn't made a mistake in having a child with her boyfriend; he didn't leave her. A week ago, he was murdered. She was forced to raise a child on her own now and she didn't have the job to do that. Her dream was to go to college, but her reality was that she worked at a small department store in the middle of town. She hadn't been back to work since her boyfriend's death a week ago.

However, it wasn't only that she was depressed about his death and worried about what had now become of her life, but lately she had been receiving disturbing phone calls in the middle of the night. She would put Aiden to sleep and then go lay in bed, most of the time she ending up sitting there watching some late show on TV. At one or two in the morning her house phone would ring and she'd go pick it up. "Hello?" she would ask, but most of the time she wouldn't receive an answer. Sometimes, though, she'd hear someone breathing heavily on the other end of the line. Sure, if this had been any other time, she'd just figure it was some immature kids playing a prank. With her husband's murder, though, she couldn't help but feel nervous and afraid. She received calls like this almost every night and she was thinking of reporting it to the police, but she pushed it to the back of her mind and tried to relax and forget about it.

The next week she finally went back to work and the phones calls late at night were forgotten. She was happy to be around her friends again and not alone and sad. It was a Friday night and she was in her car driving over to her friend's house to pick up her son. The sun had just gone down and it was quite cold out being that it was mid December. She shivered and turned the heat up a little bit. The CD player in her car was playing Aqualung, her favorite band and she hummed the tune to herself lightly. Unfortunately, the song was interrupted by a flashing light on her dashboard… she was out of gas.

"Damnit," she said and shook her head.

She grabbed her purse and took out her cell phone, going through her contacts to find her friend's name on the list. In about ten seconds it was dialing and she received an answer.

"Hello?" the familiar voice said.

"Hey, it's Ginny… I ran out of gas, could you come pick me up?"

Her friend laughed, "Sure, where are you?"

"Jackson Road… by that Christmas tree place," she sighed, "only the best place to run out of gas, you know?"

"Yeah, not the best place to be in your situation. At least you aren't too far from me. I'll be right there."

"Thank-you so much, I hate to be such a bother."

"I don't mind, really." She hung up the phone.

Virginia put her cell phone back into her purse and opened her car door. She stepped outside and into the cold. It had snowed the previous night and there was six inches still covering the ground. The road she was on was never plowed. The most the town ever did was throw dirt on it to rid it of some of the snow. She breathed out to see her breathe in the air. It was cold out, but she didn't mind right now. Everything was so peaceful and she was lost in the moment. Across the street she saw a snowman that some kids must have made. It made her remember her past, her childhood; it elevated her mood. Most unfortunately, her cell phone rang and interrupted her.

She picked it up and said hello, but nobody answered. She looked on the caller ID, but the caller's number was blocked.

"Hello?" she asked, "This isn't funny, it's just immature. If you're going to call someone, have the guts to say something when you do it!"

Fortunately, someone did answer and it wasn't who she had expected.

"Gin? Sorry about that, I didn't have any service for a minute. I just wanted to let you know that I'll be right there. Jeffrey is going to watch Aiden for a few minutes while I come and pick you up if that's alright."

Virginia breathed a sigh of relief. For a minute she thought that it was another one of those freaky phone calls she had been receiving.

"Uh, yeah, that's great," Virginia replied, "I'll see you in a few minutes then."

"Bye," he friend said, hanging up her phone.

It was a couple of minutes before Virginia was finally realizing exactly how cold it was outside and she exhaled to see her breathe in the air. Putting on her gloves, she rubbed her hands together to try and generate some heat. This didn't really work and she was standing there shivering. She decided to just go back and sit in her car and wait for her friend.

She grasped the door handle and opened it, but after that everything went black. The very last thing she remembered was seeing the silhouette of a tall figure in the side view mirror of her car.

**Author's Note:** End of the prologue and next is on to chapter 1. This part of the story is probably kind of weird, but what happens in this ties into everything else that happens. The next chapter will be up as soon as possible… give me at the most a month because I'm really busy right now. Hehe. Thanks! D


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Thanks for reading and reviewing and now on to chapter two!

**Chapter Two-**

The day was almost over; another half an hour and she would be at home relaxing. She grabbed her bag off of a chair and set it on the table so she could put her cell phone away and take out her gloves and hat. Sure, it was a half an hour until work was officially over, but she figured she could try and sneak out a little but before hand. Unfortunately, this plan wasn't going to work. The most she had done was get her hat on before House limped into his office.

"Whoa, where are you going?" he asked, "Not sneaking off are we?"

Damnit, there was no chance of her leaving now. Sighing a sigh of defeat, she pulled off her hat and took a seat, "Not _now_."

"Hey, I'm all for it. Actually, I was just about to do the same. We'd better hurry before Foreman or Cuddy shows up."

So, they did manage to leave early and Cameron was extremely happy. Today had been a bit stressful, especially with Cuddy breathing down her neck the whole time. She respected Cuddy, but completely dreaded spending great amounts of time in the same room as her; it was a bit intimidating. When she finally got to her apartment, she was glad to be home and she settled down to have a cup of tea and relax on her sofa.

Luckily, the next day went by just as quickly at the previous evening had and she was walking out to the parking lot when she ran into the patient's friend Matt. She headed over to him to say hello.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Cameron from yesterday, how are you?" she greeted.

"Oh, hello; nice to see you again," he replied, "I'm looking for Dr. Cuddy."

"I'm not sure where she is right now; I was just about to leave. What did you need her for?"

"I was just wondering how Virginia's doing, but I have an idea. How about you and I grab coffee and you could fill me in? I don't like being here; I get kind of nervous around hospitals."

"Oh well, I don't know. I don't want to be out late; I've got work to do."

"Please, just coffee. It'll be my treat," he tried to persuade her.

"Well, alright," Cameron smiled and they headed out to the parking lot.

When they arrived at their cars, Matt spoke up, "I know a great place; they aren't too well known, but they have the best coffee."

She shrugged, "Lead the way."

After twenty minutes, Cameron was getting a little bit worried. Eventually, though, they pulled into the small parking lot of a small dinner that seemed out of place in the Pinebarrens. In fact, it didn't even look like it was open save for the two lamps over a small counter.

She got out of her car and walked towards Matt, "Are you sure about this?"

"What, you aren't a city girl are you? This place is the best."

"Actually, I'm from South Jersey, but this place gives me the creeps. Still, if you say it's good." She shrugged.

Matt insisted 'Ladies first' as they headed up to the front door. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. Noticing the 'Closed' sign for the first time, she started to turn around to tell Matt, but felt a sharp pain and fainted.

House walked out of his office when he noticed Foreman and Chase walking down the hall. He approached them with a confused look on his face.

"What happened to little duckling number three?" He asked.

"You mean Cameron?" Chase asked.

"No, I'm talking about your mom; duh, yes, I'm talking about Cameron. Where is she?"

"No idea," shrugged Chase and he turned to face Foreman.

"Don't look at me. The last time I saw her she was in your office putting some papers in a folder and then checking your email. I left after that to go get the test results. Why so worried anyway?"

"No reason, except if she left and Cuddy didn't catch her…" he started, "Cuddy just saw me trying to leave and I got a lecture."

"If I was Cuddy, I wouldn't let you leave either," Foreman put in.

"Don't you have some results to look at or something?" House asked sarcastically and then left them there as clueless as to what happened as when he had first approached them.

House just continued limping down the hall and noticed Wilson walking a few yards ahead of him. He hurried to catch up, but got tired just before he could reach him so he stuck out his cane and poked Wilson on the shoulder.

"Oh, its you." Wilson said, "What's up?"

"I'm bored; can I hang out with you until it's time to go home?"

"I've got work to do and so do you. I thought you'd be intrigued by that woman who was attacked. Don't you like odd things?"

"It wasn't that interesting. We fixed her and she'll be out of here whenever she is "fully" recovered. Besides, Cameron was taking care of her and Cameron's not here. Look's like I'm not the only one who doesn't do their job."

"Cameron left? That's odd; I just saw her half an hour ago. Are you sure she's not just off doing her job and you didn't notice because you were playing your Gameboy or something?"

"Well I'm not a stalker you know… I'm not going to go and ask everyone in the damn hospital where she is."

"Yeah, so what do you call what you're doing now?" Wilson said with triumph.

House rolled his eyes, "Fine, I'll go do my job."

Wilson turned down another hall and House just kept walking forward; he figured that he would end up somewhere he needed to be or at least somewhere interesting. Unfortunately he ended up running into the last person he wanted to see; Cuddy.

"House, what are you doing?" she asked.

"It's called walking."

"Well walk your way over to a place where you're supposed to be or else you might as well just go home. At least Foreman and Chase are doing something productive around here."

House murmured a "yes" under his breath and Cuddy gave him a weird look. Still, he had achieved what he had set out to do since he first walked in the door this morning; to leave.

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**Author's Note:** Well, I know they are short, but that's the end of chapter two and chapter three will be up soon and hopefully a bit longer. Trust me; they'll get longer as they go along. I just wanted to end here so I can start the next chapter with the good/more interesting part with Cameron lol. Well, please review and let me know what you think. D Thankies!


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Thanks for reading and reviewing. Here's chapter three!

And yes (to answer your question lol), this will end up as House/Cameron… not like mushy gushy House/Cameron but hopefully believable House/Cameron. D

**Chapter Three-**

It had been two days and Cameron still hadn't showed up to work. She hadn't called in sick or called anyone of them since the day before the day before yesterday. Frankly, they were all a little bit worried.

"Cameron's not here today either?" Chase asked as he walked in.

"Nope," Replied Foreman, "And where's House at?"

"I'm over here!" House yelled and whispered at the same time.

Foreman looked around and didn't see him. Chase, however, noticed that House was lying on the ground when he just about tripped over his feet as he went to sit down.

"Bloody hell, why are you down there?" inquired Chase in a nasty tone.

House laughed, "I'm trying to look at things differently. Now if you would so kindly please flip that paper over; I've finished reading the first side."

Foreman obliged and flipped over the paper for him.

"Are you sure you weren't just hoping that Cameron would be here so you could look up her skirt?" Chase suggested, still mad that House had tripped him.

"You have such a dirty mind. I would never do such a thing!"

"Really Chase, House is perverted, but he's not that much of a pervert," Foreman put in, "Anyway, the girl who was attacked is going home later today or tomorrow."

"And Cuddy just sent us a new patient. She claims that it's going to be "a puzzle like you never solved before; very intriguing and interesting." At least, that's what she said."

"So," said Chase "Is it?"

"Well, I guess so. Can you do anything besides ask me pointless questions?" House complained and handed him the folder. "Have fun, I have clinic duty; I'll be back later."

"What?" replied Chase, but it was too late and he heard House yell "Tchau!" as he stepped onto the elevator.

((A/N – tchau is german for ciao…or basically... 'See ya!'))

Actually, House didn't have clinic duty; he was just going to leave. Possibly he would go home and chill out, but first he wanted to investigate where Cameron was. Cameron not being at work was more exciting than any patient; she had only been out sick one day and House knew it hadn't been because she had been sick. That was the day after they had that patient with AIDs. However, nothing had happened lately to make her miss work.

He stepped off of the elevator and ran right into Wilson who automatically gave him that crooked eyebrow look and interrogated House on the spot.

"You have clinic duty today?" He snapped, "You don't even go to clinic duty ninety-nine percent of the time."

"Uh, sure, let's go with that and what do you mean? I love clinic duty! It's so exciting!" House replied sarcastically.

"So, what's really going on?"

"Nothing; I thought I'd catch up on my clinic duty hours. See I figure if I do a ton of clinic duty now I figure I can get out of it for the rest of the month at least. I'm thinking outside of the box."

Wilson laughed, "Oh really, I thought Cuddy just assigned you a new patient. And I thought she said it was something you'd enjoy figuring out; a real puzzle."

"She told you? I really need to teach her how to keep a secret." He shook his head in mock dismay.

"So it wasn't exciting?"

"No, I'm sure it is, but I'm not into exciting things like that right now. Clinic duty sounds fun today. Treating patients who most likely have nothing wrong or have something so easy that I can just prescribe some pills… doesn't that sound so interesting?"

"You aren't serious, are you?" Wilson asked.

"Duh, clinic duty is the worst thing in the world. Geez, it took you long enough to figure out that I was lying," House said.

Wilson was slight confused, but that was expected when dealing with House, "So, what are you doing?"

"I'm just going to pretend like I'm doing clinic duty and then just casually take a stroll outside and then casually get into my car can casually slip the keys in and start it. Eventually I'll just casually end up at my house. How's that sound?"

"And why are you going to your house?"

"Oh, did I say _my_ house? I meant Cameron's house."

"Because she's not here?"

"Precisely."

"So you're going to go and bug her while she's sick. God, House, she's probably sleeping or something. Leave her be and go do your job."

"She hasn't called in sick for the three days that she's not been here. She would have at least called in sick to tell us she wouldn't be coming in, don't you think?"

"I guess so, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing. It's Cameron, she'll be fine."

House gave Wilson a weird look.

"True, but it's still odd."

"Yes, we all know you live for the abnormal. I just hope Cuddy doesn't catch you. She'd be livid if she saw you were not only cutting Clinic duty anymore, but the other interesting part of your job, too."

House shrugged and glanced around the room; Cuddy was nowhere in sight. He made his way towards the door and almost made it out when one of the doctors stopped him.

"Excuse me Sir, but where are you going?" The short woman asked.

"Uh, who are you?"

"Dr. Cuddy's new secretary. I'll need your name and where you're going. I'm to make sure nobody is doing anything they aren't supposed to."

"Er, my name is Dr. Wilson. I left something in my car that I need to go get. I'll be back in a flash."

"You have five minutes."

"Yeah, thanks," House lied.

As he walked out the door her hoped that Wilson wouldn't get in trouble for this, but he doubted that Cuddy would think Wilson would just leave like this. He found his car and got inside. In about five minutes his car was warmed up and he popped in a new cd and was on the road. It was another ten minutes or so that he arrived at Cameron's apartment parking lot. He found a spot close to the door and parked.

He limped up to the door and let himself in. Another two minutes and he was outside of Cameron's door. He knocked twice and waited for a response.

Surprisingly, nobody answered. He knocked again and still received no reply. So, sort of anxiously, he got out a credit card and slipped in through the crack between the door and the wall. It opened; of course it did, that trick always worked.

"Hello? Cameron?" He yelled in a whisper.

Nobody answered and there wasn't any noise of any kind of movement at all. He took another step and looked down to find a pile of mail which he figured was enough for at least a few days. Curious, he picked it up and looked through.

_So_, he thought, _se reads medical mags and Entertainment Weekly. That's weird, I never saw her as someone with any sort of clue as for what's hip in entertainment._

Some of the magazines were from a few days ago and House found that odd. If she was sick, should would have at least checked her mail. A cold doesn't keep a person from going into their living room and kitchen. He stepped over the rest of the mail lying on the floor and continued into the rest of her apartment. Only a few times had he seen her apartment, but he'd never actually been inside. The most he had done was stand outside of her door. He figured it would be interesting to take a look around and figure out what makes a Cameron tick.

Her living room was sort of plain. She had a TV, small sofa, treadmill, and a book shelf on one wall. The rest of the walls were a pale color and she had a few pictures on the wall. One was of her parents and the other was a scenic picture. She also had a desk which was entirely too neat. House went over and threw the mail on it to mess it up.

_That's better_, he thought.

He walked down a small hallway and found a bedroom. It too was neat and tidy.

"Cameron?" He asked the vacant room.

It really did seem that nobody was home. House called Wilson.

"Speak," Wilson picked up his cell phone in a slightly annoyed voice.

"She's not here."

"What? How did you get in her house?"

"Credit card; she's not in here. There's mail piled up for at least three days by her door."

"So? It's none of your business where she is. For all we know, she could have taken a vacation and not told anyone about it."

"Or there's something wrong? Can't you just take my side for once?"

"I'm your conscious, I'm supposed to give you an alternative and completely disagree with everything you say."

"Oh fine, have it your way; there's absolutely nothing wrong and I'll just ignore it. Happy?"

"No, that's so unlike you. Don't you know better than to lead and not follow? To not conform?" Wilson said sarcastically.

"Oh, so what put you in such a bad mood?" House probed.

"Actually, I'm in a good mood. You just have to bug me all the time and make me angry."

"Oh, like you wouldn't go looking for her if she hadn't shown up in a few days, right?"

"I never said I wasn't concerned, but I'm not…I'm not obsessed or anything."

House was insulted, "Well, I'm sorry dear old chap, but I must be going. Oh, and by the way Sir Wilson, thou canst forget staying at my place now; just for that comment."

Before Wilson could say anything in return, House pushed the end button and headed back into Cameron's kitchen to grab his coat.

**End of Chapter 3**

**Let me know what you think... Reviews are awesome and much appreciated! D**


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm so glad you guys like my fanfic and I really appreciate the reviews. D Seriously, you guys are awesome!**

**Chapter Four-**

As she stood up she realized how dizzy she was. Trying to walk around, she tripped and fell. She stayed there lying on the damp ground. She would have to wait until she had enough strength to get up to find out exactly where she was.

---------------------------

Wilson was heading to House's after work and found that he wasn't there. Nevertheless, he reached up on top of the door frame and grabbed the spare key to unlock the door. He set his things on the sofa and grabbed the cordless phone from the corner table. He dialed House's cell number.

It rang five times and House picked up just when Wilson was about to hung up

"Well, finally!" Wilson greeted in an annoyed tone.

"Oh hi Hunny, I see you're home from work," House replied mockingly.,

Wilson rolled his eyes.  
"Hey, don't you roll your eyes at me!" House commented.

"What, how did you know?"

"See, I knew you rolled your eyes!" House cackled.

"So, where are you?"

"Oh, just out somewhere watching a bit of TV."

"You're at Cameron's, aren't you?" Inquired Wilson.

"You should come over and hang out."

"Yeah, because I bet her apartment is clean and has food in the refrigerator, right? But I guess you want me to bring the beer because I doubt Cameron keeps a six pack in the fridge…"

"You know, I hadn't thought of that, but great idea!"

"Fine, I'll be there in a few minutes. Well, I don't exactly know where it is…."

"Forget it, I'm not giving you directions," House complained, "Go on Mapquest. I'll give you the address."

Half an hour later there was a knock on Cameron's door. Wilson tried to imitate Cameron.

"House, why are you in my apartment?" Wilson squeaked, "Haven't you ever heard of privacy?"

House looked through the peephole, "Oh Cameron, I guess I don't need to open the door, you have a key right?"

"Oh fine, its Wilson, let me in," Wilson said.

House opened the door and let his friend in.

"Did you bring the beer?"

Wilson sighed, "So Cameron's not here, you have no clue where she is, she hasn't been to work in days… and you just come and chill in her living room? Ever heard of respect?"

"Yeah, there was a song about that, right?" House replied and then started humming _R-E-S-P-E-C-T_.

Wilson said, "Yeah, because I'm definitely talking about some song from the sixties. What if she comes back and finds us in her house? Don't you think she'll be scared and angry maybe? Or don't you care?"

"I'll just tell her that I came to look for her and she left the TV on. You can't just leave a TV turned on without anyone watching it, what would the point of that be. Oh and the reason I ate her food was that so it wouldn't go bad. See, we were just making sure her food didn't go bad and her TV wasn't lonely. Happy?"

Shaking his head, Wilson sat down in a beige chair.

"So, what are we watching?"

"Mythbusters," House said simply, "It's been on all day and there's a new episode on in two hours."

---------------------------

Virginia had made it home safely and finally got to see her son again. His smile made her warm inside again and she settled down for a night in her own comfortable bed. Outside it was chilly, but still warm for March; her window was opened a little to let in the cool breeze. She set her alarm clock and then pulled the covers over her before drifting to sleep.

It seemed a peaceful night and her dreams were finally free of the nightmares she had been having for the past few weeks. Finally it seemed as if she could start fresh and be happy again. However, she was peaceful and stable inside, her reality was far from that.

Her son's cries woke up her at 2:30 am. Groggily, she slipped out of bed and down the hallway.

"Shhh," she whispered. "What's the matter?"

Noticing that the window was opened, she went over and shut it. She pulled the covers over her son and gave him a kiss on his forehead. He quieted down and she went to go back to sleep. Walking down the hallway, she felt someone grabbed her from behind and before she could fight back, she was knocked out by some chemical.

The next day she found herself in a small room. It was dark and dingy; thankfully, she wasn't claustrophobic. There was a bed and a sink and that was all. The door on the opposite side of the room was closed and it had one window that was covered up with black paper.

'This must be a dream,' she thought to herself.

She walked around the room and inspected it. She tried opening the door with no luck; of course it was locked. She put her ear up against it to see if she could hear anything. At first she couldn't hear anything, but the she closed her eyes and really focused, trying to pick up any sort of sound. There was someone yelling and frankly, it freaked her out; this whole situation she in did. She quickly pulled her head away from the door and went and sat against one of the walls.

This whole thing reminded of some sort of bad horror movie. This whole month had been like some bad horror movie, actually. She was widowed and then attacked. Now, after finally getting out of the hospital, she was, well she didn't know where she was. All she knew what that the situation sucked and she hoped she would wake up soon and this would all be over.

------------------------------

(Meanwhile this next part is happening at the same time as the above part)

Cameron woke up and opened her eyes. After adjusting to the darkness of the room, she looked around; confused. She screamed, not really knowing why. Trying to stand up, she didn't get very far before falling. She was too weak to stand. Instead, she just tried to crawl around. It was slow, but she made her way about fifteen feet and still there was nothing around her. She didn't know where the walls to this room were and feared bumping into one unexpectedly. Putting one hand in front of her and using the other to keep her balance, she crawled onward.

Eventually she hit the wall and propped herself up against it. She felt so weak, but she wouldn't let herself close her eyes. Out of fear, she kept her eyes open and continually shifting in every direction. She had no idea who else or what else may be in the room with her and she did not want to find out.

-------------------------

**I like cliffhangers hehe, but I hope you aren't mad at me for this. ) I know this chapter isn't as long as I wanted it to be, but I wanted to end it there because I like to keep you thinking. It'll get more interesting next chapter where the twist starts to unfold. And I don't know when it will be up. I think this story is the fastest I've ever posted the chapters. I had them prewritten for a long time and decided to post them. Chapter five isn't written yet so it might not be up as quickly as the others have been. I apologize in advance! D**


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading and reviewing! D Now finally on to chapter five!**

Chapter Five-

Light flooded into the room and right into House's eyes, still, that wasn't what woke him up. What woke him up was Wilson in the kitchen. Apparently, a whole bunch of pots and pans just crashed onto the kitchen floor.

"Hey Wilson, what the hell are you doing in there?" House inquired angrily.

"Sorry, I'm not used to Cameron's kitchen and if you really want to know, I'm cooking breakfast. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

"Oh!" House lit up, "Are you making pancakes?"

"Yes, actually, chocolate chip to be precise. See Cameron actually has food in her fridge. I didn't have to go out and buy everything to make a decent meal."

"Well, what do you expect? She's a woman, cooking is a girl thing."

"Are you calling me girly?" Wilson poked his head around the corner to look at House.

House shook his head, "No, no, of course not. Even if you were, you still make good food."

"Gee thanks."

Eventually, House decided to get up off the surprisingly comfortable couch he had slept on and went to get ready for work. A few minutes later he discovered that he had slept in his clothes and getting ready for work was already done. He could use a shower though, and he was curious about what Cameron kept in her bathroom, so he decided to get washed.

Cameron's bathroom was normal sized and the walls were had striped white and light green and blue wallpaper. She kept everything neat and tidy. The toothbrush and toothpaste were off to one side of the sink and her hairbrushes and hair ties were on the other. The mirror was sparkling clean and House realized that he looked horrible. Maybe, he decided, he'd look better after his shower when the mirror was fogged up. At least he wouldn't be able to tell how bad he looked if the mirror was fogged up and he preferred it that way. He didn't like bothering about his appearance, though every once in a while looking good turned out to be a big deal.

He stepped into the shower and looked around for the soap. Unfortunately, there was none. Instead, was a bottle of sunlit raspberry shower gel that he was forced to use. Then again, he really should have expected something like this. Did he really think that a woman like Cameron would have a bottle of Axe in her shower just in case he happened to sneak into her house and spend the night? Haha, no. House refused to wash his hair based on the fact that the shampoo smelled like tropical flowers and had to settle to just letting it be rinsed clean by the water.

Once finished his shower, he redressed and towel dried his hair. Surprisingly, it really didn't look that much better than normal. Maybe if he blow dried it; wait, did he just think that? He shook his head and left the bathroom.

"Well, well, look who it is," Wilson said, "Breakfast is on the table."

"Thanks."

"Hey, do you smell raspberries?" Wilson sniffed the air.

"Uhhhh, raspberries? No, I don't smell anything." House played it cool.

Wilson simply shrugged and went to fix his hair. "I'll be out in a sec. Can you refill my mug with some coffee? Thanks."

---------------------------

Light flooded into the room and right into Cameron's eyes. This light came from the bright lights hanging from the ceiling of the room. She opened her eyes, now wide awake and suddenly filled with terror. Peering around, she discovered that she was alone in a fairly large room. It seemed to be an office or room where meetings would take place, but there was no furniture. The only thing in the room was a window on one wall that looked into another room. She sighed. At least she was alone and safe, for now. Now all she needed to do was find out where she was and why. Hopefully, she'd find out soon. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep again. All of sudden she was so tired.

---------------------------

"Hey Foreman," Chase greeted. He was sitting with his feet up on the table and the newspaper in his hands. He seemed to be very engrossed in one small story in particular.

"What are you reading over there?"

"Some woman was kidnapped or something."

"Oh, that's a shame. Name?"

"Well, that's why I'm particularly interested; it's that Virginia girl that just left her a few days ago."

Foreman was now also interested and he threw his stuff on the table so he could hurry and read the article. Chase finished reading and let Foreman have the paper.

"Wait, she was attacked before and now she's been kidnapped? Coincidence… I don't think so." Foreman noted.

"Yeah," replied Chase, "It's odd."

"What's so odd?" House limped into the room and butted into Chase and Foreman's conversation.

"That Virginia girl was kidnapped."

House didn't say anything; he just got a weird look on his face like he was in deep concentration.

"What?" Chase asked.

"Nothing."

Chase just gave House a weird look and shrugged. He got up and walked around the room, looking out the door and down the hallway. He saw Foreman coming and greeted him as he walked into the room.

"Guess it's still just us guys?" Foreman commented.

"Yuppers, wow it's going to fun today huh?" House said sarcastically.

"Uh, whatever. What are you reading?"

"It's…" Chase began but House cut him off.

"It's an article about our patient that was just released."

"What?"

"She was kidnapped." House added.

"So where is she?"

"Well I didn't say _I_ kidnapped her," said House as he rolled his eyes.

Foreman put his things down on the table and took a seat across from Chase.

"So what are we doing today anyway? Are we just going to read the newspaper all day?" He looked at House.

"Nope."

"Well that answers the second part of the question."

"I don't know, I'm probably going to be a doctor and help sick people. I really don't care what the rest of you do." He said this without taking his eyes off of the article and his face did not change his expression of deep thought.

---------------------------

She was in a chair in the middle of a different room. She tried to move but couldn't and found that she was strapped in. What was going on? That was exactly the thought reeling through her mind right now. Looking around she found that she was alone. This made her slightly relieved, but still extremely anxious.

There was a night table right next to the chair she was in and on it was note. The note was left, apparently, for her to read. It was unfolded and the writing was big enough for her to read from where she was sitting.

_To Whom It May Concern:_

_Missing something, or should I say, someone? I've heard the news, scene the broadcasts, and read the articles in the newspaper. Discontinue your search for Virginia and whatever else you're missing will be returned. Don't and the consequences will be dire. I want any evidence or findings you have plus the police report burned. Show me the ashes by the end of the week and you might find one of the ones you are looking for._

_So, Virginia, do you like the ransom letter? Sorry it doesn't help you much, but at least we won't have to worry about those pesky cops bothering us. And that doctor won't be causing us much trouble either. She'll be quiet for a long time unless they're actually good enough to figure it out. _

_Sincerely, _

Well, that certainly did nothing to make her feel any better. She still had no clue where she was or why. At least now she knew that people were looking for her and that they probably wouldn't find her.

---------------------------

Author's Note: Well, that's the end of chapter 5. Hope you liked it. D Thanks for reading.


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Thanks for reviewing. I'll keep the author's note short and get on with chapter six. Here you go:**

**  
Chapter 6-**

Cuddy walked into her office to find a blank envelope sitting on her desk. _This is unusual_, she thought as she went to opened it and see what was inside.

It was a letter. She sighed, figuring it was a complaint about House or something. However, a look of shock appeared on her face when she finished reading. She whipped out her cell phone and called House; if anyone would want to hear about this, it was him. Silently, she sat as she waited for him to arrive at her office. When she called him she hadn't said anything about the letter, just that him getting there as quickly as possible was extremely important.

"Come on, I promise I'll make up that clinic duty I skipped later. And I'll do it myself, too; I won't just have Chase or Foreman fill in for me." He said, assuming that Cuddy calling him to come to her office must be about something he did wrong.

"Do you want to sit down?" She asked.

"Whoa, okay, what's going on? You're not acting angry and you want me to stay in your office long enough that I can _sit down_?"

She handed him the letter and let him read it.

Suddenly, he was worried and concerned. He just looked at her and then down at the letter.

"You think this is serious?" He asked, knowing that that was a stupid question to ask.

"No, House, I'm pulling a prank on you. April fools!" She said sarcastically, but then added, "Yes, this is serious."

"Well did you call the police?"

"I just found the letter…"

"Well, call them!" He interrupted her.

"Excuse me for a second." She got up and called the police, explaining the letter.

House took this time to reread the letter. This person was twisted. They had Cameron. The letter said that if the police did their share of the deal, that they might get Cameron back alive (if they can cure her) or _dead_. House banged a fist on Cuddy's desk.

_What does it mean… if the police did their share of the deal? Alive or dead? Curing Cameron of what? What does this all have to do with that Virginia girl?_ So many questions were running through his mind right now.

Cuddy came back.

"So…?" He questioned.

"They got a ransom note about Virginia. She's missing; kidnapped. The letter that they received had something about them meeting this person's demands and they would get back "whatever else they are missing."

"Cameron."

"Right. Well, they have till the end of the week to send this person the documents and missing person's report about Virginia. They told me to not let any more people touch the letter then already have. I'm to take the letter to the police office and they're going to compare handwriting and try and get some prints off of it. And then we wait for either them to come up with something or another letter or message from the person that took Virginia and Allison."

"That's it? We wait."

"Yes, House. There is nothing that we can do. I have to go. The best thing you can do right now is your job. There is no use in people dying because Dr. Cameron isn't here at the hospital. If you have to tell the others, please wait till later. The last thing I need is a team of doctors too distracted to do their job. Plus, I don't want the whole hospital to know."

"Well, they'll figure it out sooner or later."

"I prefer later."

That was the last thing she said as she headed out the door, leaving House alone in her office. _Yes, I'm really going to save people right now. _ He thought, getting up. _Ehh… I think I'll go talk to Wilson._

That was exactly what he did. He found Wilson talking to a patient. Lucky for House, the patient was just getting up to leave.

"You have a good day, Mrs. Parker," Wilson waved as the old woman left the office.

"House? What brings you here at this time of day?"

House limped in and sat down, "Cameron."

Wilson's eyes opened up wide, "What happened?"

"She was kidnapped."

"Okay, I'm going to need a little bit more detail than that."

"That Virginia girl and Cameron were kidnapped. Somebody has both of them and well, Cameron… wait, what did Cameron do?" He explained.

"She's a doctor! That's it!" House exclaimed.

Wilson raised his eyebrows, "Okay, I'm lost."

"No, look. That Virginia girl; she was attacked and that was how she ended up in the hospital. What if someone never meant for her to make it to the hospital? Her husband was murdered and they never found out who did that. Whoever killed the husband wanted Virginia dead, too. They must have come to the hospital and saw that their victim didn't die. They must have seen that Cameron was responsible for Virginia not dying and so they kidnapped Cameron to get back at her."

"Whoa, slow down. Isn't this all happening a little bit fast? We aren't crime scene investigators… we're doctors."

"Same difference." And then he continued to think out loud, "But where would they be? Wilson, if you kidnapped someone where would you not take them?"

"Uhh, to my house. That's the first place that the police look if you're a suspect."

"Good, where else?"

"Nowhere close to where the crime took place; it would be too easy to track the evidence. The further away, the less likely that anyone would look there."

"Hmm… I need my whiteboard. Come with me to my office."

Wilson just tagged along; he knew better than to interrupt House's train of thought.

Unfortunately, Foreman and Chase were in there and, House stopped and gaped, they were using _his_ whiteboard.

"What in the world is going on here?" he inquired. "Drop the marker and put your hands where I can see them."

Chase actually did it, but Foreman just stood there with his hands folded. Chase realised this and put his hands down again, feeling like an idiot. Wilson just laughed.

"Shut up," muttered Chase.

"Scram little kiddies, I need my whiteboard."

"For what?" Foreman replied, "You aren't even on a case right now. I know you've been lounging around all morning."

"Well, actually I do need it and its top secret which means Ducklings can't see or hear anything about it. So get lost."

"Come on Chase," Foreman pushed Chase out of the room.

House wiped off the whiteboard and picked up the marker off of the floor. He started writing everything he knew down and discussed and reviewed everything he knew with Wilson. At the end, he came up with a few people, including Virginia's friend Matt. Sighing as he noticed Foreman trying to sneak a peek of what he was writing, he grabbed his coat and flung it over the whiteboard, hiding what he had written.

"You know, we will find out what's going on," Foreman stated, "We're doctors; we have IQs of at least 140… we aren't stupid."

"Yeah, that's what _they_ want you to think."

Foreman raised an eyebrow, "Whatever, House. I'm sure Wilson will squeal, or maybe Cuddy."

"Doubt it."

"Just tell us what's going on, House!"

Rolls eyes, "Okay, I'll tell you. Wilson and I are planning a big surprise birthday party for Cuddy. It's a secret I thought for sure that you guys would let it slip one way or another. Happy now?"

"Not completely; show us what's written on the whiteboard then," Foreman demanded.

"No, that is for my eyes and Wilson's eye only. It's the plans for a huge card and I don't want you two stealing my brilliant ideas."

"You're lying."

"No I'm not."

"Everybody lies, you said it yourself."

"How do you know I wasn't lying?"

Before House could do anything to stop him, Foreman hurried over and lifted the coat off of the whiteboard. He read what it said and did a double-take.

"You lied to us about Cameron?"

**Author's Note- I know it's short-ish, but I wanted to end it there. Thanks again to the one person who reviewed last chapter. I hope more of you guys are reading! Please review… I'm dying to know if this is really good or if it needs work or whatever. Hehe. Plus, reviews make me happy. Well, next chapter should be up as soon as possible and I promise it will be longer than this chapter. D**


	8. Chapter 7

**Authors Note – Hey, I hope you liked the last chapter. This one will be longer… chapter six was only three pages in Microsoft Word so I thought it was kind of short; at least it felt like it was. Thanks to Theshowpopper, BaileyBos, Transylvanian, Prue, and Mes who reviewed throughout the whole fic so far. You guys rock. Sorry for not updating in so long. I have to study for my AP Biology exam and that's over now so I just got to work on this chapter. Anyway, here it is:**

**Chapter Seven-**

It must have been a while before she woke up again. The lights that were on before were out. Someone must have opened the door and turned them off. Slowly, she got up and tried to regain her balance. Everything seemed as if it were moving and she couldn't stand. After her third try, she decided to crawl. She could just barely make out the door in the darkness and made her way towards it. Reaching up, she grabbed the handle and pulled herself up. Then she fumbled around looking for the light switch.

She flicked it upwards and the lights remained out. _Maybe this switch wasn't for the light?_ She wondered and felt around for another switch. There seemed to be none so she felt her way back to the door and tried to open it. It was locked, not that she didn't think it would be, but it was worth a shot to at least try. All of a sudden there was a loud thumping noise and the room got colder. The air condition must have been turned on. That was odd because the weather was quite cold outside. She slid down against the wall and tried to get warm. Much to her dislike, the light jacket she was wearing didn't help her out much.

-----------------------

"Yes, I lied; everybody lies. Cuddy doesn't want this getting around the hospital. She doesn't want any commotion."

"Oh, that's great. Just blame it all on Cuddy." Foreman gave him a nasty look, "We have a right to know what's going on, you know."

"You and the dumb blonde over there have sick people to attend to. I'll take care of this."

"She's our friend," Chase added.

"Oh, it really shows." House pointed to Chase, "You took advantage of her," he pointed to Foreman, "And you stole her report thing. You just want her back for sex and because she does the work for you."

Chase looked guilty and didn't say anything while Foreman gave House the most horrible look he could muster.

Foreman looked at the whiteboard again, "You think it's that Matt guy?"

"Go do your job."

"What about yours?"

"I'm doing my job."

"Oh really, I didn't know that your job was to be a detective and save Cameron. You're a doctor and like you said, there are people dying in this hospital."

"And Cameron could be dying right now or she might be dead. Did you ever think of that!"

"Maybe I would have if you had told us something instead of hiding everything."

House turned around and walked into his office, closing the door behind him. Chase started walking away, figuring it was time to shut up and listen to House. Foreman stayed behind and tried to get into House's office. He wasn't finished the conversation. He tried to push the door when House reached into his pocket and dangled the keys mockingly. He then picked up the grey and red ball and bounced it against the wall. He needed to think.

------------------------

The lights were on again and Cameron looked through a window that she had somehow missed before. It wasn't a window looking outside, but a window looking into another room. The lights in that room were off and Cameron was afraid to move close to the window to try and get a better look at what was in that room. Instead, she backed towards the other side of the room and tried not to look. She was confused and was sure that something bad was going on.

About ten minutes later, the lights in the other room came on, reveling what was inside. Cameron's mouth fell open when she saw a young woman sitting, strapped into a chair in the middle of the room. It took her a little while, but she figured out that it was the patient that was recently released from the hospital. Cameron got up and walked as quickly as she could to the window. She waved frantically and Virginia should have been able to see her, but there was no response. Cameron didn't understand, so she tapped on the glass.

Virginia looked around with a frightful look upon her face. Cameron pounded on the glass. Apparently, Virginia could hear her but not see her. A man then walked into the room that Virginia was in. He had his face covered so Cameron and Virginia did not see his identity. Still, Cameron had an odd feeling. She stopped pounding on the glass, but the man already heard her. He walked close to the window and waved. It sent chills up Cameron's spine. Yet, she noticed that he didn't wave directly at her. He didn't know where in the room she was; he couldn't see her, but he knew she was there.

_It's one of those mirrors where you can see through one side and the other side you can't; of course!_ Cameron concluded. That explained a lot.

---------------------------

House went to go find Cuddy. He wanted to talk to this Matt kid or at least find out where he was. House remembered seeing Cameron talking to him more than one time, most importantly right before the time she left work earlier and then disappeared. Luckily, House found Cuddy in the elevator.

"Hey, I need to ask you something," He said.

"What is it?"

"Do you remember that guy that came in to see Virginia, the patient that was just released?"

"Yeah, he was pretty nice."

"You wouldn't happen to have a way I could contact him, would you?" House replied.

"What would you need to contact him for?"

"Oh, you know, I wanted to know if he'd stop by for Poker Night next Tuesday…" House's usual sarcasm arose, "I just want to ask him a few questions."

"Uhh, about what exactly?"

"What other doctor did you see him talking to the other week?"

Cuddy thought for a moment and then looked up at House, "…Cameron."

"Ding, ding, ding!"

"You don't think…"

"I'm not jumping to conclusions, but he might at least have some information. Especially if he was one of the last people to see her."

"Well, I think I have his phone number written down in my office."

"Good, let's go get it and I'll give him a call."

-------------------------

Cameron hoped that her conclusions were right because she hoped that the person that just walked into the other room couldn't see her. She wanted to crawl up in the corner of the room and hide. There was nowhere to hide so she just watched what was happening in the other room. All of sudden, a phone rang; the man's cell phone.

"Hello?" he flicked open his phone. There was a pause and then he spoke again. "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do anything wrong or harm anyone."

"I know you have her. Don't pretend to be dumb." The man on the other end of the line said and then argued with another voice in the background.

"I have something I need to do. Besides, you don't know where I'm at anyway. You'll never find us. Don't worry, you'll get her back… in what condition I'm not too sure myself." And then he closed the phone and looked into the mirror. Cameron swore he was looking at her or at least he meant to look at her. He had no idea where in the room she was.

She then saw the man whisper something in Virginia's ear. What exactly he said, Cameron didn't know. But then the man looked back into the mirror and started walking towards the glass. He knocked and just stared.

And then he spoke, "Hi Cameron. I'm sorry our date didn't turn out so well. I really never meant for you to get hurt, but why did you save her. She wasn't meant to live and you saved her. She married him and forgot about me. I loved her and she never loved me back!" He was yelling now and Cameron could see that he was upset and angry. She was more afraid of this man than the one on the phone five minutes ago. "You got in my way and you had to be stopped. I'm just sorry that it had to be you. I'm willing to spare you if the cops cooperate, but don't get your hopes up. They'd never listen to my demands; they never listen to any psychotic kidnappers demands. That means you will probably die in the room you are in now… alone, though not too painfully."

Cameron was so afraid and confused. She had trusted him and he was going to let her die, well, it was actually he that put in this life or death situation. It was safe to say he was going to murder her, even if he didn't actually stab her or shoot her; it was still murder nonetheless. She backed into a corner and tried to stop herself from shaking so much. What she needed to do was to clear her mind and think this through.

------------------------------------------------

House slammed down the phone on Cuddy's desk and nearly smashed in doing so. "Damn it!" He yelled, making three nurses walking by the office turn their heads. Noticing who it was, they just rolled their eyes and kept walking down the hall.

He slumped into a chair and banged his cane on the group before burying his head in his hands and sighing. "What are we going to do?"

""I don't know, House. I really don't know."

"Well, you should!"

"What am I supposed to do because if you know something, then stop holding it back!"

"You let her leave with that guy!"

"Everyone who met the guy surely didn't think he was a criminal. I'm sure Cameron wouldn't go off with some weird man, she's old enough to decide who she can trust and who she can't."

"Obviously not!"

"So why didn't you stop her, then? You could have easily told her to stay here and work on something. You probably just ignored her because you were watching soap operas or playing with your Gameboy."

"Oh, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Figure it out! Meanwhile, I'm going to the police station. Maybe they can track the call and figure out the location of this guy. Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere."

House just glared at her as she walked out of the room. Then, of course, he realized he was in her office and he got up to leave.

----------------------------------------

The door handle slowly turned and Cameron crawled over to the far corner of the room. She closed her eyes and tried to wake herself up from this nightmare. Unfortunately, waking up wasn't possible when you weren't sleeping. Matt walked into the room and stood over her. Her eyes were still closed, but she felt his presence and dared not look.

"What are you so afraid of?" he asked, kneeling down and tapping her on the shoulder. "I already said that you probably wouldn't die. I actually liked you; it's a shame that you got in the way."

She looked up at him and peered into his eyes, "You're a psychopath… you don't care. You killed an innocent man and are going to kill the woman you loved? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"She betrayed me! She never loved me…"

"You love her, what's the difference if she loves you back! Does she really need to die after you stripped her of everything she cared about? Is that satisfying?"

"Shut up or you will die!" he stood up and kicked her and then he punched the wall.

At least he left the room after that, Cameron was happy about that. She was still scared and angry and nervous. She felt so dumb and knew that if House were here right now he wouldn't let her live it down. She trusted a man she knew nothing about and now she was going to die.

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Author's Note- Well, that's the end of chapter seven. So sorry that it took so long. Next chapter should be up a lot faster than it took me to write this one. Please review and let me know what you think! )


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's Note- Thanks for reading and reviewing. Now on to Chapter Eight:**

**Chapter Eight-**

Cuddy walked into the police station and walked to the front desk.

"Hello, can I help you with something?" the man asked her.

"I'm Lisa Cuddy… from the hospital."

"Oh, hold on a second." He left the room for a few minutes and came back with another man, of which whom she had spoken with earlier on the phone. He motioned for her to come into another room, his office. She took a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk while he sat in the big comfy chair across the room.

"Have you found any new information?" Cuddy asked, "Because I have something that may be of use to the investigation."

"Nothing as of yet. We're still looking into the fingerprints on the envelope. _You_ have information?"

"In my office not too long ago, a man that works for me named Dr. House called one of our former patient's friends. We both saw Cameron with this man before she stopped showing up to work and assumed…"

"Sorry to cut you off, but why would you assume that this man had anything to do with anything related to this case?"

"Dr. Cameron has been gone from work for a few days now. Before she stopped showing up she had Virginia as a patient. A man named Matt kept coming in to visit Virginia and see how she was doing. He claimed to be a friend and seemed a nice enough guy at the time. However, Cameron left work one day with this man so claim two nurses who happened to be in the lobby that night. She hadn't been seen or heard from since and neither has this man named Matt."

"So Dr. House called him?" the man continued.

"Yes, he and his colleague Wilson were under the assumption that this man had Cameron. Dr. House is bold and doesn't care about privacy or respected; he got the number from my office and called it. Matt answered and House said he pretended to be innocent, but gave himself away. He obviously has both of the women somewhere and may harm them if we don't find them fast enough. I was hoping maybe you could use the cell phone number and figure out his location from that."

"I'll make a phone call to see what we can do. I can get in touch with you by calling the hospital I presume?" He replied.

"Of course." Cuddy got up to leave when he started to say something.

"If you were in position, would it be smarter to take a chance and not do as this man says, possibly letting both women die… or would it be better to listen to his demands, lose evidence, and _maybe_ get one girl back alive?"

Cuddy didn't know what to say, "Uhh… I don't really know. You could make copies of the information and then hand him the original evidence. That might backfire, too, though if he found out. Just a thought, but I am a doctor, not a detective."

"Yes, of course," his voice trailed off and Cuddy decided to leave now.

Meanwhile, House was walking out of the front door of the clinic. Wilson ran up and stopped him from opening the door, "And just where do you think you're going?"

"Let go of the door; I have a weapon!" House said, brandishing his cane out in front of him.

"Your cane?" Wilson asked, "Yeah, like I'm afraid of _that_."

"You should be. Now either get out of my way or come with me; I'm going to find Cameron."

"And how do you expect to do that when you don't even know where she is?"

"Hence the word 'find' in my statement. I never said I was going to go pick her up at the train station or something."

They walked outside and to House's car; his motorcycle was at the repair shop so he had to drive his car to work.

"So how exactly are you going to find her?" Wilson gave him a quizzical look.

House pointed to the passenger's side of his car, "Get in, we're going to check every old warehouse or vacant building from here to California if I have to."

Wilson just got into the car and buried his face in his hand, "Are you sure you aren't drunk or high or something? Did you take too many Vicodin today?"

"No, Mr. Smartypants. I'm fine, just buckle up."

After the first hour of driving around, Wilson began to be bored; actually, he was really extremely bored.

"Damn it, House, haven't you heard of XM Radio?" Wilson said after searching every station and finding nothing worth listening to.

"What's the fun in that? With XM Radio there's always something on. With FM Radio you actually have commercials and bad music. It makes the ride more interesting; plus it gives us time for a nice chat." House said and turned off the radio. "So, how're things going?"

Wilson snorted, "Okay, what's all this about?"

"I don't know. We haven't talked in a while; I was beginning to think you didn't like me anymore." He made a puppy dog face.

"Keep you're eyes on the road," he said, "Things are fine. If you mean about the whole divorce thing… we umm called it off. She wanted to talk things over, said we were both acting stupid and she doesn't want to get a divorce after all."

House didn't say anything, he was quite interested in Wilson's story and decided not to interrupt.

"I'm not moving back in with her just yet. We figured it would be nice for a while if we just lived separately for a few more weeks. We did plan a date for next Friday night. I made a reservation at that place you and Cameron went to last year."

"Their garlic bread is horrible, don't order any."

Wilson rolled his eyes, "Okay. Anyway, how are things in House's world?"

"Oh, you know, same old same old. Work, soaps, Gameboy, and then back to work again and yeah the cycle just keeps repeating."

"Have you spoken with Stacey lately?"

House gave Wilson a half death glare, "No, what would give you that idea?"

"I don't know… just thought that if my divorce is off then maybe by some coincidence you'd be talking to Stacey again or she'd come and see you again."

"Well, nope. I'm sure we're over for good."

"Oh, I see."

"You see what?" House asked, "I hate it when people act like they know something about me and I don't even know what it is that they think they know."

"You have feelings for Cameron."

House replied with a sarcastic tone, "Oh yeah, I think she's really sexy."

"You're really weird when it comes to relationships. First the love of your life and you go your separate ways. Then you meet Cameron, the young and beautiful doctor. You know you had a good time going to the monster truck show with her. I bet you didn't care that I couldn't go after that. Then when things get all heated up and you're on a date, you purposely screw things up and lock up all emotions again. Stacey comes into the picture and you like her again. Stacey is gone and you like Cameron again."

"You love assuming things, don't you?" House said.

"It's true, isn't it? You shut out your emotions and can't make decisions about relationships. You've been that way ever since I met you."

House didn't know what to say. Partially, Wilson was right. He locked up his emotions and that's because he didn't want to get attached really. Plus, he wasn't great with people.

Luckily, House's phone rang to break the awkward silence between him and Wilson. It was Cuddy.

"Hello?" House said into his cell phone.

"It's Cuddy."

She meant to continue her sentence, but House interrupted with his usual witty comments, "Yes, it's called Caller ID."

Cuddy was used to his remarks and just ignored him, "The police know where that Matt guy is. They got a location off the GPS of his cell phone."

"So… location please?"

"I'm not sure if I should tell you. You'll probably go and kill the guy."

"What's wrong with that… I mean, no I won't"

Wilson grabbed the cell phone from House, "Hi, it's Wilson. What's going on?"

She told Wilson everything she had just told House. Wilson nodded and then felt sort of stupid because Cuddy obviously couldn't see him nod if he was talking on the phone.

"If you told us the location, we could go there and try to get Cameron and Virginia back. I promise to make sure House doesn't do anything stupid and irrational."

""I don't know. I think we should let the police handle this," she said meekly.

It was still loud enough for House to hear and he responded, "If we let the police handle this all you'll find of Cameron is a dead body… maybe… on the news next month."

"Ugh, you know what, here. It's some old warehouse off of exit 75 of the turnpike. It used to be an Pathway like ten years ago and now it's just used to storage."

"Great, thanks!" _Click_. He shut the phone and stepped on the gas. He was going to find Cameron and give this Matt guy a piece of his mind… actually; a piece of his _fist_ would be more accurate.

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**Author's Note:** Sorry this chapter is so short. I wanted to make it longer, but I felt so bad that I haven't updated in sooo long. So I hope you like it. Next chapter will probably be the last chapter of this story or maybe one more chapter after that. Then I'm going to be working on a Bones fanfic and probably some more House stuff. )


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** Hey, thanks for reading, sorry for this taking so long for me to update. AP Biology is over next week and so is school. I'm so happy that summer is here. I'll finally have a lot more time to write and update! ) Thanks for sticking with it.

**Chapter 9- **

So, they were driving around. House was driving so fast and so insanely, that Wilson was holding onto his seat for his life. Meanwhile, he was shouting out directions.

"Take a right up here, House," he said and then would add something like, "Are you sure he's still got them there? What if he knew we'd track the call and he went somewhere else? Or what if he left and went there to make the call to try and trick us?"

"Stop talking, I'm trying to concentrate on driving."

Wilson shut up; he definitely didn't want to distract House. If he was driving like this when he had his concentration on the road, there's no knowing how he would be driving while having a conversation. In fact, he probably wouldn't be driving at all. The both of them would be in a ditch on the side of the road.

In about fifteen more minutes, House slammed on the brakes in front of the warehouse. He parked the car on the side of the road, but didn't do anything.

"Uh, are you going to get out of the car or what?" Wilson asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking."

"Thinking what, exactly?" Asked Wilson.

"Trying to come up with a plan, but I guess we'll just have to wing it. Let's go."

They got out and headed up to the front doors; which just happened to be unlocked.

"Well, maybe this won't be so hard after all. What kind of kidnapper doesn't lock his secret hideout?" Wilson observed.

"A moronic kidnapper. We should split up and cover more ground. Call me if you find anything."

Wilson nodded and they took off in opposite directions. Well, House didn't really take off; it's pretty much impossible to 'take off' if you have a cane and a bad leg. It would be better put to say that he 'hobble off' down the hallway.

It was dark; it was still pretty early in the afternoon, but the front doors that were covered in dirt and dust didn't let in much light. Any other windows were boarded up or covered up. Inside the building, it seemed was as black as midnight minus the moon and the stars. He flipped up his cell phone to provide more light.

Wilson was jogging down the hallway in the opposite direction. He had also flipped open his cell phone because it was so dark. A few steps back he had fallen nearly flat on his face and decided that running in the dark wasn't a good idea.

Meanwhile, Cameron was sitting in the corner of her room. She had tried to go to sleep, but fear kept her awake. Was that guy going to leave her here to die or did he plan to torture her like he was going to torture Virginia? Was he going to kill her?

The lights in the room went on again and the man appeared in the room with Virginia. He walked over to the mirror and pressed a button on the side of the wall. There was a screech and then his voice came onto some hidden speaker.

"Hi, Allison Cameron, I'm sorry it had to be you and I'm sorry you have to see this." He stepped over to Virginia and took out a knife.

He lifted up her hand and sliced the wedding ring off of her finger. Virginia screamed and Cameron winced.

"You destroyed my life, Virginia. You ripped my heart out and tore it into a thousand tiny pieces. I loved you and you went and married _him_." The man said and then he walked out of the room.

Cameron was terrified. What if he came into her room? She tried not to think of what he would do to her.

House stopped dead in his tracks. He heard footsteps and they didn't sound like Wilson's. He had heard a scream; was it Cameron? And then he heard a door shut.

A figured started walking down the hallway so House tried to hide back in the shadows. The man walked right past him and House stuck out his cane. The man fell. House kicked him in the stomach or what he thought was his stomach. His eyes still hadn't adjusted to the darkness yet.

And then a shooting pain went up House leg. He yelled without even thinking and then kicked the man again. There was a clang as something metal hit the floor. House saw that it was a knife and kicked it down the hallway.

Wilson heard something faint in the distance. "Oh no," he thought. Then he turned around and ran in the direction House was in.

"House!" he yelled.

The warehouse was huge so it took him quite a while to get to the other end where House and the man were fighting.

"Help already, will you!" House said harshly when he noticed that Wilson had arrived.

Now it was two against one; House and Wilson against the man. House's cane was seen flying through the air and it hit the man several times. After a while, the man was lying on the ground rolled into a ball. That was when Wilson and House stopped hitting him.

House could hear the man whimpering, "Where are they?"

The man didn't say anything so House hit him with his cane again.

The man pointed down the hall.

"Watch him, Wilson. I'm going to find Cameron."

"You've been stabbed, maybe I should go," Wilson said.

"I'm fine, just watch him."

Wilson nodded and House limped around the corner.

Cameron heard something outside of her door and he receded further towards the other end of the room. She wanted to close her eyes and hide, but her eyes wouldn't obey. Instead, they stayed open, wide with terror. She stared at the wall in front of her. The man hadn't bothered to turn out the light in Virginia's room. Cameron didn't want to watch the girl crying with her finger cut off.

She did look into the room again when she heard someone enter. This time her eyes were wide with disbelief. House had just entered the other room.

She tried to stand up, but for some reason she was too weak. She needed to get his attention, but she just didn't have the strength. She tried to speak, but her mouth was so dry. She could only watch as House helped Virginia.

He got her out of the chair restraints and told her to put pressure on her wound. Then she spoke.

"Are you from the hospital?" she asked, "There's someone else here."

Then she pointed towards the mirror. House walked over and hit it forcefully with his cane. It shattered and revealed a dark room. The light from the room they were in lit up some of it and House could make out a figure sitting against the wall.

"Cameron?" he asked. "Hey Wilson, get in here!"

House didn't exactly expect the police to come through the door, but it wasn't that it was a bad thing.

"Sir, come with us." Said one of the officers, "Well, get you some help. You, too, Miss."

Virginia went with them, but House didn't. Instead, he knocked off more of the glass from the mirror and stepped over.

In the room where Virginia was, one of the officers picked up her finger and took it with them in a bag. Three of the officers stayed around.

"Sir, we'll handle this from here." The tall officer said.

House didn't listen. He walked over to Cameron and lifted her up. She was about to pass out; she was weak. She looked at him and then rested her head on his shoulder.

"What did he do to her?" House wondered.

Then the officers got the door to that room opened. They took Cameron and House and put them on stretchers and then wheeled them down the hall; House protesting that he was perfectly fine.

**Author's Note: I know it was short, but I still hope you liked it. Next chapter is going to be the last one for this fic. )**


	11. Chapter 10

**Author's Note- Thanks for the reviews. This is the last chapter I think. I hope you like it. **

**Chapter 10-**

When they got to the hospital, House tried to hop off of the stretcher to go make sure Cameron was okay. Unfortunately, he didn't get very far before the nurse stopped him.

"Sir, your leg is hurt. I'm going to need you to stay still," the nurse said.

"It's not like I'm going to die or anything. Just let me see her."

"We need to fix your leg and check her to make sure everything is okay. You can see her in a little while. Just please calm down," the nurse tried again.

House gave her and evil glare, but stopped trying to get up. The truth was his leg did hurt like hell, but he didn't want to show any sign of pain or weakness. He watched as they rolled Cameron down the hallway and he was rolled down the hall and into one of the rooms as well.

He was going to need sixteen stitches for the gash in his leg and three more for the cut on his arm. That was so bad and it didn't take too long. The pain was nothing that House wasn't partially used to. His mind was on Cameron and that other girl. That Virginia girl had her finger cut of and Cameron could barely stand up. All he needed was a couple of stitches. He really just wanted to get out of the hospital bed and call Cuddy or see Wilson. Wilson was probably in the waiting room or else he went to check up on Cameron.

"Hey, can someone hand me my phone?" House asked.

The nurse figured it was okay, so she grabbed it off the table and handed it to him.

"Sir, you need to relax and rest. You've been through a lot today."

"Thank-you, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

She shook her head and left the room, closing the door behind her.

House picked up his cell and dialed the clinic; he needed to talk to Cuddy.

"Hello, how may I help you?" it was one of the nurses.

"This is Doctor Gregory House; I need to speak with Doctor Cuddy."

"One moment please," the nurse said and then called for Cuddy. "Here she is."

"Thanks," House replied.

"Hello, where the hell are you?" Cuddy said.

"Well, it's nice to be speaking to you again, too. I'm at the hospital. Well, not the one I work at, obviously, or you would know."

"Is Cameron alright? And what about Virginia?"

"I don't know. I had to get stitches so I couldn't go with them. Virginia had her ring finger cut off. Cameron was locked in some room and she's weak. I don't know what he did to her."

"Oh God," Cuddy said and several people gave her strange looks. "Did they catch the guy?"

"Yes, thanks to me and Wilson. It was that Matt guy. I stabbed him and Wilson kept him there until the police arrived."

"Good, good," Cuddy said in a worried voice. "Let me go let Chase and Foreman know what happened. I'll be over as soon as possible."

"Bye."

A nurse finally came by House's room to see how he was doing.

"You can go see her if you'd like. The other nurses told me how worried you seemed. She's asleep though." The nurse said to him. "Please be careful though. I don't want your stitches coming out or anything."

"Will do," House replied and he hopped out of bed to go find Cameron.

"Her room is the third door down the hall on this side to the left. Just to let you know."

House then said, "Thanks." And limped out of his room and down the hall. When he got to Cameron's room, he just stood outside the door for a second. After a few seconds of thinking, he opened the door. Cameron was lying on the hospital bed. She was pale and that worried House a lot.

_What did that Matt guy do to her?_ He wondered.

He stood over her bed and looked down at her. He didn't know what to do and he knew that saying something was stupid because she was asleep and couldn't possibly hear him. That was when someone clearing their throat broke the silence; it was Wilson.

"He drugged her. She's in a coma; ODed on barbiturates. The doctor is going to start the Hemodialysis sometime soon."

House looked down at Cameron and Wilson was sure he heard him mutter, "Bastard!" under his breath.

"Hey," Wilson said, "Want to go down to the cafeteria with me?"

House shrugged and Wilson took that as a yes.

It was late; nearly midnight. House and Wilson, who weren't exactly hungry, just got coffee. For a while, they sat in silence. Both men were replying what had happened today in their minds. Both men were worried about Cameron and Virginia. Wilson was wishing he could go back in time so they could have gotten there faster. Maybe then they could have saved Virginia from losing her finger and a lot of blood. Maybe Cameron wouldn't be in a coma. House wanted desperately for Cameron to wake up, he also wanted very much to go to sleep. Despite the coffee and how his mind was going hay-wire, his whole body felt like it was about to collapse. "Stupid meds," he thought.

House kept looking out the cafeteria doors and down the hallway. He wanted to go back to his room or to Cameron's room. Wilson wouldn't let him; he kept trying to strike up a conversation and ordering them more coffee. Cuddy would be there soon. She said earlier that she had a lot to do. Of course, Wilson had expected her earlier, but with three doctors gone, she probably had a lot to do.

Ironically enough, just as Wilson was thinking this, Cuddy came walking through the cafeteria doors.

"The nurse told me I could find you two here," Cuddy greeted them. "Sorry I got here so late. Foreman and Chase are still at the hospital. They've got someone who just came from the ER, it's a nightmare."

Wilson nodded, "Did the nurse tell you anything about Cameron?"

"No, she was busy and said that you two could fill me in."

Wilson told Cuddy what had happened and what the doctors told them.

Cuddy had the same reaction that House had had, "That bastard drugged her?"

Wilson nodded. House didn't say anything.

House then let his drowsiness get the better of him. He told Wilson and Cuddy that he was going back up to his hospital room. Despite his minor injuries, the doctors would rather keep him overnight than send him home. Tomorrow the nurse said that they would check his stitches and if everything checked out then he could leave. However, they suggested that he take it easy for a few days; he'd been through a lot and they didn't want his stitches coming undone.

"Yes!" House thought, "Finally a valid excuse to get out of clinic duty!"

He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. The TV was still on, but he couldn't care less. All he wanted was to clear his mind and get some sleep.

The next morning, House woke up and realised that Wilson was sitting in on of the chairs watching the morning news.

"Good morning," Wilson said, still watching the TV and not bothering to look at House when he spoke.

House nodded as a reply, even though Wilson wasn't looking, "So, what's up?"

"Well, Cameron came out of a coma a few hours ago. I'm pretty sure she's sleeping now, though. Oh, and one of the doctors is coming in shortly to check out your stitches. Then you can leave."

"Can I see Cameron?" House asked.

"Not right now. The doctor said that it would be best if we came back later today or tomorrow. She needs rest."

"And what about that creep? What's up with him?"

" 'The creep' is being treated. His room is guarded by two security officers and once he's better he'll be held in the county corrections detainment facility. Then I guess they'll set a date for his trial," Wilson explained.

House had a quite satisfied look on his face. Then a doctor came in and took a look at House's stitches. Everything seemed fine, so House was set to go. He got up and packed his things. Wilson handed him a change of clothes and he changed in the bathroom. In about ten minutes, he was ready to leave.

House and Wilson hung out for the rest of the day. Cuddy went back to work until later when she said she was going to try and come back to visit Cameron. Now it was around seven at night. House was growing bored of the TV and of having nothing to do. He'd rather be doing clinic duty that sitting here doing absolutely nothing. Without saying a word, he got up and grabbed his coat, heading out the door.

"Where are you going?" Wilson asked. Again, he didn't even bother looking in House's direction when he spoke.

House didn't say anything so Wilson figured he'd better get up and go with him. Wilson let House drive, but only because he didn't want to start an argument.

"Where are we going?" Wilson tried again. It was probably useless.

Actually, Wilson turned out to be wrong; House answered this time. "The hospital."

"Princeton Plainsboro or the one Cameron is at?" Wilson inquired.

"To see Cameron; did you think I was going to do clinic duty or something? And what would I want to go see Foreman and Chase for?" House replied.

Wilson shrugged and turned on the radio. The rest of the ride was silent except for the music and commercials playing from the speakers. When they got there, they exited the car and walked into the hospital, still silent.

House would have walked through the hospital to Cameron's room without stopping, but Wilson stopped him.

"Excuse me," Wilson said to the nurse behind the desk, "We'd like to visit a friend; can you let us know her room number please?"

"Sure, just follow me," she replied, "Thanks for the excuse to leave the desk; I was getting sort of bored. Not much has been going on around here lately."

"No problem," Wilson said and House hit him in the back with his cane while giving him a dirty look.

Wilson gave House that "What the hell was that for?" look and House gave Wilson that "You have a wife so stop flirting with other women look." Wilson rolled his eyes and House just sighed. Soon enough they were up on the fifth floor and outside of the Cameron's room.

"Hold on a second," the nurse said, "Let me go check and see if she's awake or not."

Both men nodded and waited while the nurse went inside the room.

"Miss Cameron, you have two visitors," the nurse explain when Cameron looked up, "Would you like me to send them in?"

"Do you know who they are?" Cameron asked.

"Well, I didn't get their names, but there's an older man with a limp and another man who looked a bit younger."

"Sure, they can come in," Cameron said. Then she started to worry how she looked; she probably looked like a mess. Oh well, there was nothing she could do about it now.

Wilson came in first and he smiled at her; House came in after.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Wilson asked, "Glad to see that you're awake."

"Thanks," she said, trying to smile.

House just looked at her and, taking notice of this, she averted his gaze. Wilson noticed the awkward silence between the two.

"Well, I'm going to go grab a soda from the machine down the hall. I'll be back in a few minutes," He left quickly so House didn't have a chance to follow. He was leaving them alone on purpose.

House took a seat in one of the visitor's chairs and tapped his cane rhythmically on the floor. Cameron watched him. She had just noticed his wounds and stitches.

"Are they because of me?" she asked, pointing to his cuts.

He looked up at her again, "If you were the asshole that slashed me, then yes, but I'm pretty sure he didn't look like a girl have long brown hair." She rolled her eyes, "You should be more concerned about yourself. A few stitches are nothing; a few hours ago we didn't know whether you'd wake up."

"You could have let the police handle it, you know. You and Wilson put yourselves in a lot of danger."

"You and the Virginia girl would have both died if Wilson and I hadn't come to the rescue," House explained.

She sighed. There was silence lingering for a few minutes before Cameron spoke again.

"Thanks House and I really mean it. I thought I was going to die; I really believed it. Matt scared me and I know if he would have killed Virginia then he would have come and killed me next." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I thought I was dead for sure when I saw him cut off her finger. And then you came through that window thing and I didn't see who you were at first; I pictured _him_ coming towards me. God, I was so stupid. I never should have trusted him."

"Cameron… there was no way you could have known. I'm sure he seemed like a really nice guy; he could have fooled anyone. You just happened to be there at the time."

She paused again; trying to stop herself from crying. She figured she looked ridiculous and decided that she didn't want to at the moment. House figured she wasn't going to say anything so he started watching the TV. It was playing the evening news. He watched the weather segment and then the sports came on for a small bit. When it went back to the regular news, House watched as _their_ story came on. How a man held two young women hostage in an old storage building. Cameron turned her head and House turned the TV to a different channel.

"Why did you come looking for me?" she asked.

House really didn't know what to say.

"You of all people; you never seem to notice I'm there until I'm not. Why?" Cameron persisted.

Why did she always ask questions he didn't know the answers to? Her questions made his brain hurt. Did he car about her? Of course he did; he cared about anyone who actually gave him the time a day. Did he love her? Is that why he pushed Stacey away? He tried to think but his brain was jumbled with so many things.

"Maybe I take you for granted," he explained, "You're one of the few people who gives a damn about me, but I block it out. And then I never notice you until you're not there saying the things you say and doing the things you do. When you aren't there anymore, then I realise how much the things like that actually mean."

She was surprised by that and it caught her off guard. Having no idea what to say, she just smiled.

It was about a week later and Cameron was just released from the hospital. Cuddy picked her up and drove her back to her house. She got settled in and Cuddy helped her out a little bit.

"Thanks," Cameron said, "Man, I really hate having people do things for me, but I guess sometimes you just can't do everything by yourself."

"You're welcome; I know how you feel." Cuddy grabbed her coat and was heading out the door, "I hope you get better soon. Are you sure you'll be okay here by yourself?"

Cameron smiled, "I'll be fine; thanks."

For a few days Cameron stayed home and rested. Eventually she got bored and decided that even though she still wasn't herself yet, that she would go to work. Four heads are better than three and the guys could probably use her.

House was absolutely stunned when he walked into his office and saw her sitting in his chair. Well, it wasn't the fact that she was in his chair so much of the fact that she was sleeping in his chair with her head leaning on his desk. He went over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Cameron?" he asked.

She blinked open her eyes and then realised where she was exactly. She'd gotten there an hour earlier and decided to close her eyes for a few minutes. The few minutes turned into an hour and she felt slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry," she started, but House interrupted her.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your apartment getting rest?" he gave her a stern look.

"I'm fine," she said, "You guys probably need me to do something around here."

He sighed; Cameron looked so happy and so eager to please everyone when she should be at home resting or something. Plus, it didn't seem that she remembered at all what today was.

"What's the matter?" she asked him.

"His trial, it's today."

She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. She just sat there looking dumbfounded.

"You forgot?" he asked her.

She nodded and then a worried look came about her face.

"I can take you home if you want," he offered. He knew she needed to recuperate and he knew that if Cuddy found her in here, it would be his head.

"He's going to go to jail, right?" she asked.

House sighed, "Hopefully, most likely. Personally I think the bastard deserves the death sentence. Do you wan to go home? Or we could just go somewhere, it doesn't matter."

She nodded.

They were in his car and on the road. "You shouldn't have come to work. You're going to overwork yourself."

She just looked out of the window. House ended up pulling into the parking lot of a local diner. They had breakfast together and then he took her home. He stayed at her place for the afternoon. It was nothing special; they watched TV and talked. At five thirty Cameron's phone rang, but by that time she was in the shower while House was watching his soaps.

House decided to pick it up, figuring it was the considerate thing to do.

"Hello?" he said, picking up the receiver.

"Oh, so that's why you weren't at work today, you were with Cameron?" Cuddy asked and House regretted not letting the answering machine pick up the call.

"Well, that's a funny story. See, I was at work, but then I left. Cameron's in the shower, can I take a message?"

"It's about the trial."

"And?" House pressed

"Fifty years with parole for two accounts of assault and attempted murder. Are you going to tell Cameron?" Cuddy said.

House replied, "I guess I have to."

"Okay, well, I have to go."

House said goodbye and hung up the phone just when Cameron came out.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"Oh, uhh, that was Cuddy," House stated.

"What'd she say? Did you get yelled at for skipping work? You can tell her it was my fault, I don't mind taking the blame," she replied.

He shook his head, "Sit for a second."

She took a seat on the couch next to him and then he continued.

"I told you earlier how Matt's trial was today," he started, "Cuddy called to tell me the outcome… He got fifty years with parole."

She nodded. Inside she was so glad. The last thing she wanted was for that guy to be out there, able to hurt more people.

He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, "You okay?"

"I think so," she smiled.

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**Author's note: I guess that's the end. I know I'm not the best at endings and that's why it took me so long to write this chapter. I wrote and rewrote it and it was driving me nuts. I hope you like it. ) Review please and let me know. I'm not sure what my next fic is going to be about. Possibly another House fic or else it will be Bones or The-X-Files. ) I've been having writers block lately so hopefully that will go away lol. **

**Anyway, thanks to anyone who read, reviewed, faved, and put my fic on story alert. I appreciated it a lot! D**


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